E-Learning Programs of Hanoi Open University

Unit 2. Clauses

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Objectives
 In this unit, we will study the clause as a unit
intermediate between the phrase and the sentence:
- Definition and elements of the clause;
- Subcategorisation of the clause in terms of usage,
clause elements and verb complementation, verb phrase
structures and subclassification of dependent clauses.

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Contents
I. Definition
II. Clause elements
III. Classification
1.According to usage
2.According to clause elements and verb complementation
3.According to verb phrase structure
3.1. Finite clauses
3.2 Nonfinite clauses
3.3 Verbless clauses
4. According to subclassification of dependent clauses
4.1 Nominal clauses
4.2 Comment clauses
4.3 Comparative clauses
4.4 Adverbial clauses
4.5 Relative clauses

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I. Definition:
Clause is a part of a sentence, conveying an independent
supposition.

II. Clause elements: S, V, O, C, A

1. Object:
- Direct object (Od.): (V + sbd/ sth)
I like him.

- Indirect object (Oi) (+ Od) (V + sbd sth)

I gave him a book.

give, carry, bring, send, lend, borrow + Oi Od

ask, require, find + Od/ Oi Od
I gave a book to him.

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2. Complements:
 Subject complement (Cs): describe or indicate the
characteristics or features of subject - after copular verbs
(link verbs, intensive verbs).
- BE group: be, appear, seem, feel, look, see, sound, smell,
taste…, expressing the current attribute:
He appears tired.
S V Cs
- BECOME group: become, come, get, go, grow, turn,…,
expressing the resulting attribute:
He becomes famous.
S V Cs
 Object complement (Co): describe or indicate the
characteristics or features of object:
She painted the door red.
S V Od Co

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 Adjective complements (Cadj.): modify the adjective

as Cs.
I’m happy to meet you.
Sv Cs Cadj
Prepositional complement (Cpre.): as complement of a
compulsory preposition.
She is interested in making up all day.
S V Cs Cpre
Exercise 1.

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3. Adverbials
 Semantically: adverb of time, place and process (manner)
He worked hard at school then.
S V Amanner Aplace Atime
 Functionally: 3 kinds
 Adjuncts: integrated in the structure of the clause
He worked carefully.
S V A adjunct
 Disjuncts: peripheral to the structure of the clause
Carefully, he worked .
Adisjunt S V
generally speaking, in fact, to be honest, to tell the truth

 Conjuncts: peripheral to the structure of the clause and connective

function
Secondly, you have to learn French.
Aconjunct S V Od
finally, on the other hand, in brief, that’s why, in other words, in
addition, moreover, in conclusion, what’s more, further more
Exercise 2
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III. Classification

1, According to usage
+ Independent clause:
- Simple sentence : Tom saw Mary.
- Compound sentence: Tom saw Mary and he ran away.
- Complex sentence :
When Tom saw Mary, he ran away.
+ Dependent clause:
When he saw Mary, he ran away.

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2. According to clause elements and verb

complementation: 7 kinds
 S + V(intransitive) : He has arrived.
 S + V(intensive) + A : He is in the garden.
 S + V(intensive) + Cs : He looks tired.
 S + V(mono transitive) + Od : I read his letter.
 S + V(complex transitive) + O + A:
They put him in a good position.
 S + V(complex transitive) + Od + Co: He made me happy.

 S + V(di transitive)+ Oi + Od: He gave me his book.

5 clause elements: S, V, O, C, A
S V --
SVA
SVC
SVO---
SVOA
SVOC
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3. According to verb phrase structures (Structural

classification)

Finite clause “to” inf. NFC

Infinitive
Cl Non-finite clause bare inf. NFC
-Ing participle NFC
Verbless - Ed participle NFC

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3.1. Finite clause: a clause whose verb element is a finite verb phrase
He is a student.
F.VP
F.CL
3.2 Non-finite clause: a clause whose verb element is a non-finite verb
phrase
3.2.1. Infinitive non-finite clause
- “To” infinitive NFCl.
To learn E is difficult.
S- To inf. NFCL without S
It’s difficult for us to learn English.
S – To inf. NFCL with S
- Bare infinitive NFCl.
Run away is what I could do then.
S – bare inf. NFCL without S
He made me cry.
Co – bare inf. NFCL with S

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3.2.2. -Ing participle NFCl.

Going home, I did some shopping.
Atime - -ing part. NFCL with out S

 When I was going home, I did some shopping

The teacher being ill, we missed our lesson.

Areason – ing part.NFCL.with S

As the teacher was ill, we missed our lesson

Fcl.

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3.2.3. -Ed participle non-finite clause

Given a beautiful present, she was very happy.
Areason – ed part. NFC without S
 As she was given a beautiful present, she was happy
Fcl.
His job finished, he went home. (chưa trọn vẹn ý)
Ed part. NFCL with S
 When his job was finished, he went home
FCL

3.3 Verbless clause: a clause whose verb element is absent

He went to bed/ angry.
 When he was angry, he went to bed
She stayed at home jobless.
 Because she was jobless, she stayed at home

Exercise 3
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COMPARE FINITE CLAUSES AND NON FINITE CLAUS

ES

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4. According to the syntactic functions of subclause:

Nominal clauses, Adverbial Clauses, Comment
Clauses, Relative clauses, Comparative clauses

4.1 NOMINAL CLAUSES

4.1.1 Definition: the clauses that perform nominal
function as S, O, C
4.1.2 Kinds of nominal clauses
1. Finite nominal clause
2. Non-finite clause
4.1.3 Possible functions of Nominal clauses

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Nominal clauses - syntactic functions

Clauses Func tio ns
S Od Oi Cs Co App C adj C pre
Finite "That" clause + + + + +
"Wh-" interro. clause + + + + + +
Norminal relative + + + + + + +
Yes/no interrog. clause + + + + + +
Non finite "To" infinitive + + + + + +
Bare infinitve + + +
Ing participle + + + + + + +

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a, S
- “That” clause: That he is the best student of this group is widely
accepted.
- “Wh-” clause: Who will go there is a question.
- Nominal rel.cl. Whoever went there was given a small book.
- Yes/no interr. Whether he’ll help us or not is not certain yet.
- “To” infinitive: It is easy to learn grammar.
- Bare infinitive: Run away was what we could do then.
-Ing participle: It is no use crying over the milk spilt.

b. Od
- “That” clause: We know that you are rich.
- “Wh-” clause: I didn’t know why you didn’t love me.
- Nominal rel.cl. I can’t understand whatever he says.
- Yes/no interr. Do you know if he can swim?
“To” infinitive: She likes to dance then.
- -Ing participle: We like singing the song in the group.

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c. Oi
- Nominal rel.cl: They gave whoever went there a present.
d. Cs:
- “That” clause: The question is that he is still single.
- “Wh- ” interr.cl.:The question is where we will go after the class.
- Nominal rel.cl.: What he likes is not whatever I like.
- Yes/no interr.:The question is If he can cope with the situation.
- “To” infinitive:My job was to remind him of his duty.
- Bare infinitive: What we ought to do is repeat what he says.
-Ing participle: Her dream was becoming a good translator.

e. Co
- Nominal rel. cl.: You can paint it whichever colour you like.
- “To” infinitive: We wanted him to keep silent.
- Bare infinitive: We heard him murmur something.
-Ing participle: I saw him driving a new Dream.

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f. App
- “That” clause: His hope, that he’ll become a teacher of
English, will soon come true.
- “Wh-” clause: The question how we deal with the
situation has not been answered.
- Nominal rel.cl.: We want to know her permanent
address, that is where she is living most of her time.
- Yes/no interr.: Our problem whether he’ll be able to
come over this difficulty is a great significant.
- “To” infinitive: His desire, to become famous
throughout the country, comes true.
- Ing participle: Her dream, becoming the Queen, was
reliased at last.

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g. Cadj
- “That” clause: I’m sure that he’ll get married soon.
- “Wh-” clause: I’m not certain who helped him over the
difficulty.
- Yes/no interrogative: I’m not sure whether he’ll
succeed or not.
- “To” infinitive: He is easy to deal with.
- Ing participle: She was busy making up all day.

h. Cprep
- “Wh-” clause: It depends on what he will say at the
meeting.
- Nominal rel. cl: I don’t believe in whatever he says.
- Yes/no interr: It depends on whether he can bring in
this list.
- Ing participle: They are thinking of cheating her.
Exercise 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.
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4.2 COMMENT CLAUSES

4.2.1 Definition
Comment clause similar to main clause
She loved him, I know/ see.
4.2.2 Possible functions (adjunct, disjunct, conjunct):
As all of you know, this story is legend.
A-adjunct
To be honest, he is very stringy.
A-disjunct
What’s more important, you have to go out.
A-conjunct

Exercise 13.

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4.3 COMPARATIVE CLAUSES

4.3.1 Definition: a comparative clause consists of 2
components:
Comparative element + comparative clause
He looks younger than she does.
4.3.2 Possible functions
Cs: I’m happier about it than my sister is.
S: More people learn English than any other languages.
Od: He read more books than I did.
Oi: That man has given more children happiness than
anyone else.
A: You have been working much harder than I had.
4.3.3. Ellipsis in “than” clauses
She is taller than he (is)/ him.

Exercise 13
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4.4 ADVERBIAL CLAUSES

4.4.1 Definition
Adverbial clauses are those perform adverbial functions in
the sentence (adjuncts, disjuncts, conjuncts)
4.4.2 Semantic classification (Finite Adverbial
clauses)
a. Clauses of time: after, before, since, until, when,
while, as soon/long as, whenever...
Buy your tickets as soon as you reach the station.
b. Clause of place: where / wherever
They went wherever they could find work.
c. Clauses of condition: if, unless, on condition that,
provided (providing) that, as long as, so long as
Provided that no objection is raised, we shall hold the
meeting here.
d. Clauses of concession: although, though, even if, even
though, while, whereas
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No goals were scored, though it was an exciting game.
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e. Conditional concessive clauses: whether ... or,

wherever whatever, whoever, no matter how
Whether they beat us or we beat them, we’ll celebrate
tonight.
f. Clauses of reason (or cause): as, because, since
I lent him the money because he badly needed it.
g. Clauses of circumstance: because, since, now that,
seeing that
Seeing that the weather has improved, we shall enjoy
our game.
h. Clauses of manner: exactly, just + as
Please do it (exactly) as I instructed.
i. Clauses of comparison: (more) ... than , as if, as though
He treated me as if he had never met me.
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k. Clauses of result: so (that), in order that (purpose)

We planted many shrubs, so (that) the garden soon
looked beautiful.
l. Clauses of proportion and preference: as ... (so), the
more/ less ...the more/ less
As he grew disheartened, (so) his work deteriorated.
The harder he worked, the happiest he felt.

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4.4.3 Structural classification

a. Non-finite Adverbial clauses
To-infinitive clauses (to V): often introduced by (in
order)/(for+N) to, so as to.
- A purpose:
I left early (so as) to catch the train.
They left the door open in order for me to hear the baby.
- A result:
The ceiling is too high for me to reach.
She woke up to find the whole house on fire.

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V-ing participle clauses: -ing participle clauses are very

common with subordinator: while, without, when, etc.:
-A time:
He wrote his greatest novel while working on a freighter.
- A circumstance:
The weather having improved, we enjoyed the rest of the
game.
- A manner:
She entered the room without greeting anyone inside.
- A reason:
Being very suspicious, she hesitated to open the door.
- A preference:
Rather than sitting quietly at home he preferred to visit his
friends.
- A condition + concession:
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Whether living in London or not, John enjoyed himself.
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V-ed2 participle clauses:

- A time: Once published, the book caused a remarkable
stir.
- A place: Where(ver) known, such facts have been
reported.
- A condition:
These books will cause great harms to young students
unless forbidden.

Bare infinitive clause

- A preference: Rather than go there by air, I’d take the
slowest train.

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b. Verbless adverbial clauses:

Adjectival contingent clauses (without or with subordinator).
- A circumstance: They went home dead tired.
- A reason: John, sad at the news, went to Mexico.
- A concession: Though very poor, they are extremely
generous.
- A condition: If necessary, I’ll do that again.
- A time: When ripe, the oranges are picked and sorted.

Other clauses: (often with subordinator)

When in Rome, do as Rome does.
While in London, he enjoyed himself greatly.
He’ll do his best to help her if requested by the boss.

 These verbless clauses are often considered as reduced

finite clauses with ellipted Subject + Verb.
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Exercise 14, 15
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4.5 Relative clauses

4.5.1. Relative clauses functioning as post-modifier in NPs
a.Restrictive relative clauses (also called defining relative clauses):
The man who went there with him is my brother-in-law.
I tried to discuss this problem with the professor who wrote this
book.
b. Non-restrictive relative (or non-defining) clauses:
We met Mr Jones, who was expert at nuclear physics.
This book, which was written fifteen years ago, was again revised
and published.
4.5.2. Sentential Relative clauses
He came to see her too often, which annoyed her mother.
They failed the final exam, which surprised us all.

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4.5.3. Nominal Relative clauses

These are clauses that are very close to the noun phrase
status in that they can perform seven (out of eight) different
functions of noun phrases. They can act as S, Cs, Od, Co, App,
Cprep and Oi. They differ from the other two subgroups in that
they can be paraphrased by nominal element plus relative
clauses.
What caused the fire was only a cigarette end.

We remember when we first came here.

We gave whoever went there a brochure.

Exercise: 16, 17, 18

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“Wh-” FCl. changes into “wh” NFCl.:

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Yes/ no FCl: if/whether

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DISTINGUISH WH-INTERR. CLAUSE AND WH-

NOMINAL REl. CLAUSES

1. Similarities

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2. Differences

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